Earthquake: Napa residents, many of them seniors, flee from devastating mobile home fire

Steve Becker of the Napa City Fire Department directs firefighters who were mopping up a fire at a mobile home park on Orchard Ave. following a 6.0 earthquake in Napa, Calif. on Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014. Four homes were destroyed by fire in this complex. (Gary Reyes/Bay Area News Group)

NAPA -- An intense blaze burned four mobile homes to the ground while six to eight others received minor to moderate damage in one of the most devastating aftereffects of Sunday morning's 6.0 earthquake centered in the area, according to the Napa Fire Department.

Fire crews were responding to another call related to the 3:20 a.m. earthquake when they saw the smoke and diverted to the Napa Valley Mobile Home Park on Orchard Avenue just off Highway 29, finding one unit completely engulfed in flames and another mostly filled with fire, Napa fire Capt. Steve Becker said.

Nola Rawlins, 84, was sleeping when the quake hit and awoke when her TV toppled into her bed. With bad eye sight, she managed to find her way out of her mobile home and saw the early signs of the fire.

"I saw the house in back of me burning and then I head an explosion," Rawlins said, holding a cup of coffee while standing in the park's clubhouse, which turned into a de facto evacuation center.

She thought her house was safe and evacuated, but learned later the home had burned to the ground, destroying her glasses, medicine, photos of granddaughters, everything.

"I think I'm just kind of in shock. It's devastating when you lose everything, but I'm OK," said Rawlins, whose daughter from Cobb Mountain was coming to pick her up.

Making matters worse, due to a broken main at the park, no water was available, so crews focused on evacuating residents.

"If there had been any kind of wind there would have been no way to stop it," Becker said.

The first water was put on the fire 20 to 30 minutes after the firefighters arrived, when relief water tenders arrived. By then three adjacent mobile homes were completely destroyed, along with a fourth about two blocks away. The park's general manager shut off gas to all units to prevent any further fires.

Fire crews remained on scene throughout the morning, dousing hot spots and watching over the smoldering remains of the units, which stood just 100 feet from the first rows of a vineyard, as a steady stream of muddy water gushed in front of the park entrance. Dozens of homes showing outward signs of foundation damage, some with caution tape barring owners from entering.

Howard Hornsby, 70, lived a few houses down from the fire on Mark Way and awoke to a gigantic jolt and then 20 to 25 seconds of side-to-side shaking.

"Everything came down. Every book came down, The shelves were empty," he said. "It was like emptying a box."

Hornsby and his wife crawled out of their mobile home to escape and saw the beginnings of the fire. The fire quickly grew to 15 to 30 feet above the roof line, he said, as residents frantically ran from their homes yelling.

Wearing a T-shirt, shorts and a blanket like a poncho, Horsnby spoke from the community center, displaying the only belongings rescued by firefighters from his structurally damaged house: his glasses, hearing aides, medicine, and a hip sack. His house was not damaged by the fire, but was tilting and dangerous to enter, he said.

"If my time comes, my time comes," Hornsby said, calling himself a "kinda like a Buddhist type." "Everything you have is replaceable."

Jean Moore, 68, lives across the street from the burned units and while the exterior of her unit showed little damage, the inside was another matter. Bookcases toppled or arched in skewed angles, her refrigerator and stove moved feet from their original spots with broken glass throughout her kitchen. In every room furniture toppled.

Fortunately for Moore, a 10-year resident at the park, she was asleep at her private nursing job in Menlo Park when she awoke to the quake. She turned on the TV news and saw the scrawling news feed on the bottom say there was a mobile home fire in Napa. She eventually realized it was her park and headed home.

"This is unbelievable," Moore said, standing in her damaged living room as one of her three cats struggled to venture out from behind the refrigerator, "but it's standing and not burned to the ground."